AuthorTopic: Announcing the NEW Zendrum ZAP (Read 25319 times)

For everyone at Zendrum, I am pleased to announce the immediate release of a totally new Zendrum model for 2008, at a breakthrough price of $999. We have just completed tooling up for production of the Zendrum Articulating Programmer - the ZAP.

(Zendrum ZAP in Walnut)

It is specifically a stationary desktop MIDI controller with the same proven triggers and circuitry used in the mobile ZX and LT models, and designed with a smaller footprint to fit in tight spaces and studio environments. It is the perfect hardware for playing multisampled drum software, which until now has been severely limited by yesterday's mushy-feeling touchpad devices. None of them is as fast, sensitive, or intuitive to play as the ZAP. Nothing else feels like a real instrument that you can depend on for years of hard work. Still the same reliable quality you expect from Zendrum with my personal lifetime warranty.

The ZAP features a unique, very tightly clustered 19-trigger arrangement in five offset rows. This staggered cluster can be played as a single instrument with many different articulations, or used as separate voices that can be expressed either individually or together with a minimum of physical effort. The ZAP is also surprisingly adaptable as a melodic instrument with the Zendrum default note map scales suggesting many new techniques and applications waiting to be explored. Already, VST instrument and sample designers are hard at work creating a new generation of software that maximize the potential of the ZAP. You can even strum it like a guitar!

There are 3 extra 1/4" trigger pedal inputs and a 1/4" sustain pedal input for "drummer-friendly" footwork as well as the Zendrum momentary sustain button on the top that acts as a "choke" for longer sounds and MIDI effects.

This is the smallest Zendrum ever at 12"wide X 10.5"deep X 2"high. Solid heavyweight wood species were chosen for beauty and lasting value as well as for density and trigger isolation under the hardest playing conditions.

Read what leading experts have to say about the ZAP:

"I've never seen a desktop drumpad worth owning, and I've played them all. ZAP takes desktop drum programming to the level it should always have been, and it's no surprise, coming from Zendrum. Great drummers, from Billy Cobham to Future Man, can't be wrong, and I'm not wrong, either. Zendrum is the Rolls Royce of drum controllers, and finally, every MIDI producer can afford to have that legendary quality right on the desktop!"

Bruce Richardson - Sampledaddy

"Today's VST instruments offer unparalleled creativity and sensitivity. The Zendrum Articulating Programmer is the best multi trigger MIDI input device for the computer musician. Programming beats with the ZAP puts life into your tracks, and it's the perfect tool for DJs looking to add some "Live" spice to their shows. Zendrums are known as exceptional, high quality instruments and the ZAP promises to live up to that reputation. These instruments give everyone the chance to be truly creative."

"My desktop percussion controller has always been the weak point of my live electronic music rig. I have high quality sequencers, samplers, and software, but my percussion controller feels cheap, it looks cheap, and I have to pound on the thing to get any dynamic range out of the inferior rubber pads. I've always thought of it as a disposable, temporary solution until I could find a true high-quality controller worthy of being called an instrument. Come to find out, there aren't any! That is, until now...the Zendrum ZAP is exactly what I've been looking for! It is a high-quality instrument that I can love, with playability that matches its quality build and good looks. The innovative hexagonal configuration of round pads allows for finger drumming speed and accuracy not possible with the standard grid of 16, and the sensitivity of the triggers is unreal. Ghost notes are back! It's obvious that this device was designed by a drummer, not a keyboard player. What's more, it's a breeze to program, and integrates perfectly with both my software and hardware devices. And the extra inputs on the back allow me to hook up kick, hi-hat and sustain pedals, so my feet have something to do again! Zendrum ZAP has become the foundation of my electronic rig, and my new best friend."

Patrick Petro - First ZAP Owner

Handcrafted in your choice of five beautiful hand-rubbed oil finishes in Zebrawood, Tigerwood, Bubinga, Walnut, and Wenge'. Serial-numbered art from this First Edition of the ZAP -- certain to become collectors' pieces.

Order NOW $999 (+ FedEx shipping worldwide)direct sale only from Zendrumorders@zendrum.com

It's Matthew Antolick - I play Zendrum full time at Disney's EPCOT Center Moroccan Pavillion with Morockin'. I've probably met a lot of you there! Anyhow, this is exciting!

I've been laying my zendrum flat and/or wearing it while sitting down programming for a while, when working with my other projects The OaKs or the Future Funk Collective, and it's going to be great to have an MPC-type interface with the control and sensitivity of a Zendrum.

I'm thinking of the possibilities of having two! (one for each hand) -- (yeah!)

hypno|sapien

First ZAP owner here. Let me offer testament to the fact that the ZAP is an amazing piece of gear. I've had my eye on Zendrums for a number of years, but the format just didn't fit into what I was doing. My live electronic rig must be able to fit on a pretty small table, and the previous Zendrums were just too big for my needs. The ZAP is perfect! I've been using it with both Battery 3 and with my E-mu PX-7 with great success.

I'll get a photo of my rig up soon showing the integration into my setup. And I'm working on getting some video together this weekend. In short, this thing is the answer to my midi percussion controller dreams!

Please let me know if you have any questions that I might answer. I predict that the ZAP is going to take the desktop percussion controller market by storm...

hypno|sapien

It's a monome 256. Check out monome.org. It can interface with software in a variety of ways. It can be a step sequencer, a midi controller, or as I use it, a loop slicer. In short, I record a groove into the PX-7, triggered by the ZAP, of course. Then I record that loop into a Max/MSP patch called mlr on my powerbook. That recorded loop gets assigned to a row on the monome, with each of the 16 buttons being a slice start point, quantized to whatever my global quantization is. Aside from slicing it up, I can manipulate it in a variety of other ways, reverse, double time, half time, etc. For me, the Zap and the monome represent the perfect electronic music interface for someone who is a drummer.

I'll get some video shot this weekend of it all working together. Until then, here's a brief demo video of a smaller model: